The French trade deficit hits a new record in April, at 12.4 billion euros – 20 Minutes

Limits constantly pushed back, and not in a good way. The French trade deficit reached a new record in April, at 12.4 billion euros. It is “significantly” degraded by energy imports, the prices of which have soared with the invasion in Ukraine, Customs said on Wednesday. In March, this same deficit had already reached 11.8 billion euros, according to revised figures from Customs, the worst deficit ever recorded. It also reached an absolute record cumulatively over twelve rolling months, at 106.6 billion euros. The deterioration of the French balance is linked to the “pronounced” increase in imports, up to 58.8 billion euros, against “exports which increase this month more slightly”, to 46.4 billion, detail the Customs. This gap is driven “mainly by the growth in the prices of traded goods”, they specify, affirming that import prices have increased by 7% when export prices have only increased by 4%. “The rise in energy prices is once again the main cause of this situation”, they added, stressing that excluding energy, the external balance of goods fell “more moderately over the month”, worsening by only 100 million euros compared to March.Fuels in the sightsOil prices have soared in recent months in the wake of the gradual recovery of the world economy and then the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, propelling the price per barrel around 120 dollars. In France, gasoline prices reached record levels last week, above the 2 euro mark despite the rebate at the pump put in place by the government, said the Ministry of Ecological Transition. The increase in the energy bill, at a “still sustained” pace, however, seems to be “slowing down” (+0.6 billion euros this month, against +0.8 billion euros on average over the previous six months ), underlined the Customs. In addition to energy, trade in consumer goods and intermediate goods show “virtually stable respective balances”, “in a context of rising food and industrial prices”, added the Customs. As for the balance of payments, which includes trade in services, the current account deficit stood at 3.4 billion euros in April, perfectly stable compared to the previous month according to revised figures, detailed the Bank of France on Wednesday.